Aaron, I've reviewed the Animist spells and that class will work very well with Matt's ranger in a supporting role.

As of this time, Nigel is 12th level. As soon as I determine Matt's current XP he will probably jump to 13th. I just want to bring you up to speed with history and current events.

Background: The setting is the Cyr Domains. Cyr is north of the Kingdom of Thanetia on my map. West of Cyr is unclaimed territory that is often transitioned by troops and citizens of the Lorn Imperium which lies farther to the West, by citizens and sometimes troops of Kalahna nah Ehlovar (or simply Ehlovar) which is northwest of Cyr and sometimes citizens and rarely troops of Thanetia. To the east of Cyr is Orkinlahd. To the north of Cyr is the Koros Union.

Cyr can be best described as Scotland in terrain, culture, and society. Clans are dominant, but unlike Scotland they tend to rule just their local area. Thus there are many clans. However, many of the clans come from the same family so if you travel you aren't likely to see too many families in one area. Wars and conflict tend to be fought not from a clan to clan basis, but from a family to family basis. Since there are many clans this often appears as if the clans are always fighting (generally they are). Cyr is not united. Within the last five years a Bandit King set up shop at an old keep in the single pass that goes from Thanetia in to the Cyr interior. As he has been able to control trade through this pass, he has effectively been "running" Cyr - at least in the south anyways.

Cyr is a small country and was founded by the god Cyr. Cyr is the brother of Kellina (whom you may recall as my major goddess from past games). He is a nature god and most of his followers are rangers, clerics, animists and druids. Nigel's grandfather was a ranger of Cyr. It is him that instructed his grandson in ranger ways. Nigel's father was a soldier in the Kingdom of Thanetia, the family having moved south from Cyr at some point. Nigel is a citizen of the Kingdom of Thanetia.

In the distant past there was a war which affected reclusive Cyr. At some point the Domains united under the leadership of a charismatic human and the support of the Dwarves of Sethanon. The dwarves have an enclave within Cyr. Their own mountain (Sethanon). After the war, things fell apart, but this leader had a son who was spirited away and his descendents are rumored to be alive. Should one of them be able to prove lineage he could unite the Domains again. The Cyr clerics whom were charged with keeping track of the hidden family lost track of them and have been looking for them for a very long time. A clarion call to his coming has been said to be the torch atop Mt. Cyr, which traditionally has called all the clans to meet at once at times of great peril.

Note about the clerics of Cyr. It is a reclusive order. They trend more toward animist/druidic in nature. The rangers of Cyr are the eyes and ears of the order and are the ones that police the domains. There are few of those however.

Now some campaign notes. I will mention alignment because it explains things succinctly:

To be brief. Kingdom of Thanetia. Lawful good. King Arion vonSahral, Nigel's liege. Generally, a good country run by peasant kings, but lately there has been an edge of treasonous evil.

Lorn Imperium (Lornus Imperianata). Run by and controlled by the church of Lorn. Lorn is Kellina's evil brother. Large country, chaotic evil. Thanetia is small in comparison. Koros Union. Lawful evil, run by the church of Lorn, but heavily influenced and controlled in some places by a very old but well entrenched gentry which at some point managed to attain a low level of nobility by virtue of the fact that they held land. There is a constant conflict between these "thanes (land owners)" and the church.

Orkinlahd. Ork territory. The orcs of this country are "good" orcs. They are direct descendents of those that repented of their crimes during the GodWar and were restored. They however, were not able to escape the twisting of their features. Essentially, they are orcs (as defined in C&T), but they are not evil. To the north of Orkinlahd (but within it's borders and governed by the orcs) is the territory of the Orogs. These Orogs also repented. Same thing. Orog class, but not evil. The Koros Union is deathly afraid of these Orogs as they have engaged them before and the Orogs made most of that army invading at the time disappear.

Ehlovar. Neutral good. Controlled by Elvish nobility. However, Ehlovar has the distinction of being a mixed country. Under elvish rule is a large community of humans and some dwarves. These peoples are treated by the elves as full members of their country and are accorded the same rights and respect. The one limiting factor is that only elves may carry noble, hereditary titles. Many of the humans in Ehlovar worship Corellon Larethian (who in this world of mine is a brother to Kellina). Make no mistake, there is racism. But it is the exception, not the rule in Ehlovar.

OK. So, in 1992 I got back in to AD&D with Matt. So, I created a map, named countries (as above) and Matt and I agreed that he'd create a character as a test character for all my ideas and plans. So, he came up with Nigel and I ran him in the Cyr Domains. Nigel went out with a mage called Jin to retrieve a griffon's feather she needed for a spell. Along the way they found the bandit king (Durvin) had set up control at this keep I mentioned earlier. That insulted Nigel's sensibilities and he worked to topple Durvin. Which he did successfully right at the time that the Koros Union troops which unbeknown to Nigel had invaded Cyr and had managed to reach the keep by fall. These troops were in force and took over the keep. This forced Nigel to retreat (but he took the sword of an NPC named Ephriam who would become his nemesis).

Nigel rushed back to the KoT on the griffon and informed Lord Arion about this invasion. Arion sent him north to scout and told him that he would be sending troops soon to oppose the invasion. Secretly, Arion was using this as a ruse to enslave the Domains himself. Nigel's babysitter when he was young demanded to go with him. So, both returned to the Domains and thus began a long series of trying to unite the Domains. Nigel, aware of Arion's plans created Cyr's own troops and ran around trying to unite people. Eventually Arion's troops arrived and he was faced with trying to integrate them in to his plans. Several battle with Union troops were fought, including one which earned him another nemesis. Dhanna, his former babysitter was captured at one point and he had to rescue her. Also at one point Arion recalled him and then sent him to Orkinlahd to forge an alliance with the KoT. This happened and it is only now that orc forces (including the Orogs) are coming in to Cyr.

All of this happened between 1992 and 1999, mainly under AD&D. But around '95 we switched to RM with Nigel still as a test bed. We did not get back to this until about 2008.

Currently the Domains are being subjugated as spring has come and the Koros Union troops have begun their assault on the KoT. Nigel is bonded to Dhanna as a Warden (she is not whom she intially appeared to be) and they are still running around trying to unite the Domains.

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